I didn't finish about Jerusalem!

Ok I've greatly neglected writing about the rest of my trip! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last couple weeks.

Me and Mandi at Masada.


My roommate Loral and me standing in the Mediterranean Sea at Cesarea Maritima.


Caryn, Tricia and me after seeing after what seemed like a million Tels, we got excited about something living.


Me and Erica at the land of Dan.


Mandi and me in Dan. If you look closely you can see the sweat dripping down my forehead.


On the Sea of Galilee with Spencer, Peter and Mandi.


At Peter's Primacy with Pope Johny P the 2nd. This is my excited face.


Me with my St. Peter's fish.


Tatoos in Galilee. We were really hard core.

Ok, maybe I will do a little bit on my time in Galilee before doing another post about what my last week in Jerusalem was like. Galilee was wonderful. The worst part was that it was incredibly humid and I was a constant sweaty mess. The best part was being where Jesus had been. Unfortunately I'm not very good at taking pictures and I'm especially not good at taking pictures of things that may be spiritual or really personal. For example, when I was at Auschwitz in Poland, I didn't feel right about taking pictures there becasue of the importance and possible sacredness of the site. So because of that, I don't have very many pictures of actual sites or less dorky pictures. But I did really like Galilee. I was surprised that I didn't feel more spiritual throughout the time I was there. I expected to have intense spiritual experiences as I went to the different sites that the Savior had been and had performed miracles. I didn't have them. Instead I felt hot and irritated. I sweated more than I ever had in my life and instead of being able to focus on the miracle of the Savior's life, I was busy wiping sweat off my brow and underside of my glasses. I was a disgusting wet mess. I was annoyed that I couldn't enjoy the sites as I wished and that when I did have the chance to sit and listen to lecture prepared by my teacher, the heat made me tired and sleepy and it was hard to stay awake.

In retrospect however I am thankful for the time I spent in Galilee. I have come to a greater appreciation and realization of the life of Jesus. He taught and preached in that heat and tried to change the thought, philosophy and traditions of the time. I never could have done that. Heat takes everything out of me. I can barely concentrate when I'm too hot. I remember a particularly hot day on my mission walking around with my companion with no desire to talk to anyone because we were so hot and miserable. I am thankful for what Jesus did. I am thankful for his constant action so that we can have what we have now. And I am grateful to have just a little better understanding of what he went though to give us what we have and know now. And thats the best thing I got out of Galilee.